Posted on 01/22/2012 7:11:55 AM PST by re_tail20
The U.S. Border Patrol Friday announced it is building an outpost in New Mexico's Bootheel, one of the last unguarded regions between the United States and Mexico.
It's an unforgiving terrain where Geronimo made his last stand. Today, it remains largely isolated with no cell service, few unpaved roads but growing lawlessness as drug dealers and human smugglers increasingly look for alternatives to more traveled routes.
There are tales of drug traffickers breaking into homes and high speed chases that sometimes force school buses off dirt roads. One rancher even stumbled upon 19 lost and starving Chinese immigrants who had illegally entered from Mexico on their way to New York City.
Border officials say the new station in the Animas Valley will give the region 24-hour monitoring for the first time in its history, and will allow border patrol agents to quickly respond to illegal activities. Until now, agents had to drive an hour and a half each way from the nearest Border Patrol station in Lordsburg, N.M., to patrol the area.
El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Scott Luck, who is responsible for the New Mexico border, announced the new outpost at a community meeting of ranchers and residents in Animas, N.M. ,following months of deliberation and debate on where to locate the site. "Operationally and tactically, it was the best choice," said Luck, who made his final decision to sign a lease with a private land owner earlier this week. "It's a win-win situation for all of us."
Luck said he made his choice after listening to agents on the ground and considering which site could quickly dispatch agents to troubled spots. The new outpost will hold a heliport, horse corrals and modular buildings capable of housing up to 15 to 20 federal agents...
(Excerpt) Read more at kwqc.com ...
Bootheel?
This will actually be the second one in the bootheel, the first facility is already under construction at Antelope Wells as part of a complex that has a new Port of Entry, and a Border Patrol building with horse facilities and more on 15 acres.
If you look at a map of New Mexico you will notice an area that makes a jog down in the SW corner. That area is known as the bootheel.
I’ll bet someone will open a restaurant now.
thanks tammy :)
The way things are going, they need to build one in the MISSOURI BOOTHEEL!
My eye sight is not as good as it once was and when I first read this headline my eyes saw ‘NM Brothel’.
I wondered for whom they were looking.
Driving by a Walgreen's yesterday I read a sign that said FU shots. Upon closer inspection, the advertising was for the more seasonal Flu shots.......
I LOVE getting old
Yep me too. Everyday is an adventure.
Now, if I could just remember what I did yesterday...
I got a tour of the area in 1992 when I was a reporter for the Deming, NM, paper. The Antelope Wells border crossing wasn’t much more than a shack and a gate. I wasn’t aware it was being improved. I also met the Gaults. Interesting folks.
Didn’t know Geronimo fought his last fight in the bootheel. I’ll have to look into that. I do remember a story that in the old days area ranchers were losing cattle a half dozen at a time and were mystified because the rustlers left no tracks to follow. They finally caught the culprits, a small band of Indian renegades — riding steers.
I think that’s New Mexican for “Brothel”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo
However, Skeleton Canyon is only about 2 miles on the AZ side of the AZ/NM border...:^)
The new port was originally supposed to cost 7 million, but is now over 11 million and still not finished. That is just the port of entry building, I have not heard a figure for the Border Patrol building or the rest of the complex. It is a drastic change from what is there now, and all the old buildings are being torn down.
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